Piano fall-board



(No Model.) EQKER.

PIANO FALL BOARD.

No. 545,926. Patented Sept. 10-, 1895 N L T WITNESSES: INVENTOR JET/44w; MAX \NALUEEKER ATTO R N EY shown in Fig. 1.

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ATENT MAX WALDEGKER, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

PIANO FALL-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,926, dated September 10, 1895.

I Application filed May 16, 1895. Serial No. 549,527- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAX WVALDEGKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, Albany county, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piano Fall-Boards; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved fall-board for pianos.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a vertical sectional view of a part of an upright piano and my fall-board in the position it assumes when closed, and Fig. 2 a similar view showin g my fall-board opened with the music-rack thrown forward by the act of raising or opening the fall-board.

The numeral 1 shows the framework of the upper part of the piano; 2, the rear and 3 the front fallboard, hinged together and swinging on apivoted arm 4, said arm 4 being attached to the front portion of the fall-board 3 in any well-known manner, but preferably by screws, the arm 4: being pivoted to the keyblock 9, and being also provided with a lateral shoulder or offset, as shown in both figures, which extends past the hinge and supports and braces the contiguous parts of both fall-boards in their normal position. The detachable fastening of arm 4 to fall-board 3 permits the fall-boards to be very readily removed and put in place. Attached to and depending from the rear part of the fall-board 2 is a bracket 8, having a wheel or roller at its lower end resting on a block which preferably slants rearward, the bracket 8 being preferably screwed to the fall-board 2 by a screw at its end, as shown in Fig. 1.

6 shows the music-rack pivoted or hung so it will swing, as at 7, and behind the music-rack 6 is an arm 5, pivoted so it willalso swing and strike the rack6 and push it forward, the arm 5 being preferably a curved piece of wood; but it may be made of any material desired.

The operation is as follows: When the piano is closed the fall-boards lie in the position When the fall-board 8 is slotted connecting-pieces, as the wheel being pivoted to the bracket and the bracket free to assume any angle to the wheel and the rear fall-board 2 being free to move in space unrestricted, except by the wheel and bracket which acts simply as a support therefor, there is never any hitching, faltering, or jamming fast of rear fall-board 2. As the fall-board 2 recedes it strikes against the lower end of arm 5, pushing it rearward, while the upper end pushes against the rack 6, throwing it into the position shown in Fig. 2. As the fallboards are returned to a closed position the weight of the rack 6 pushes the arm 5 back to its normal position, the rear fall-board is drawn forward on the Wheel at the end of bracket 8 without hinderance or liability to hitching, andin this manner I have produced fall-boards that will stand the roughest usage and always move freely and without undue friction, and always assume the position designed for them when closed, the rear fallboard being left to assume any position it may, within certain limits, when it is pushed rearward on opening the piano.

It will be seen that rear fall-board 2 is not in any manner connected to the piano or its frame, butis perfectly free to move except as the movement is controlled by the bracket and wheel 8, and one of the main reasons why this is so arranged is that when boards 2 and 3 are set in place, the only attachment to be made is inserting the pivot on which arm 4 swings, and when it is desired to remove the fall-boards the pivot is removed, when the boards are removed without further trouble and without being obliged to unhinge or otherwise disengage the rear board 2 from any fastenings whatever, and when they are put in place, as board 2 is not dependent on hinges, pins, and like devices, it goes into place without loss of time or making trouble, which is a great advantage where numbers of pianos are set up each day, as in the factory as it saves the time of the men whose business it is to assemble the parts of the piano, and this saving of time and trouble is a matter of great importance to the manufacturer.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- In combination with the rear and front fallboards 2 and 3, hinged together as shown, and

the frame of the instrument, an arm 4; pivoted at its lower end to the said frame rigidly but detachably fastened at and near its upper end to the said front fall-board, overlapping 

